Rich, decadent cream pies are worth every sinful calorie

I get cravings for things I eat only once in a very long while. Recently it was for cream pie, which is rich and wonderful — and why I eat it only once in a while.

My craving began shortly after reminiscing about a driving trip my wife and I took around Lake Superior two summers ago. One place we stopped was Two Harbors, Minnesota, home of the famous — at least in that part of the world — Betty's Pies. Betty’s makes some wicked cream pies, and I now wanted one badly, but that restaurant is bit of a drive from Victoria. So I decided to dig out a recipe I have for making cream pies and made a few myself.

What I like about the recipe below is that you can use it to make a basic, custard-like filling, and also easily adapt it to make other types of cream pie, namely coconut, banana, butterscotch and chocolate. You can make the pie in a store-bought or homemade pie crust. I choose the latter, as it makes a cream pie even dreamier. The pie crust is blind-baked; a process of first baking it without the filling. To prevent the crust from puffing as it bakes, you first line it with foil and fill it with raw rice, dried beans or the pie weights sold at kitchenware stores.

Once the pie crust is baked, it’s cooled and then filled. The filling is then allowed to set, before being topped with — you guessed it — whipped cream and appropriate garnishes.

RECIPES

Basic Cream Pie

This basic, vanilla-flavoured, custardy cream pie can be left as is, or be flavoured in the tasty ways suggested below. Stay at the stove when making the filling. It requires constant stirring and your attention, or it might burn on the bottom. Tempering in the recipe means to bring the temperature of the egg mixture closer to the temperature of the hot ingredients. Doing so will help prevent the eggs from “scrambling” when both are completely combined.

Preparation time: 30 to 45 minutes (depends on if you make your own pie crust)

Cooking time: 10-12 minutes

Makes: 8 servings

For the pie crust

1 deep-dish store-bought or homemade pie crust (see recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Carefully line the pie crust with foil, and then fill with pie weights, raw rice or dried beans (see Note). Bake for 30 minutes in the centre of the oven. Remove the foil and weights and bake 5 to 10 minutes more, or until the crust is light golden and dry in the centre. Set pie crust on a baking rack and set aside until needed.

Beat the eggs in a bowl until the whites and yolks are well blended. Mix in 1 cup of the milk. Set aside.

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a medium, heavy-bottomed pot. (My pot was 8-inches wide, and 4-inches tall.) Add the 1 cup of remaining milk to the pot and whisk until smooth. Set the pot on the stove over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk until smooth and very thick, about 2 minutes, and then remove from heat.

Temper the cold egg/milk mixture with 1/2 cup of the hot mixture, very, very slowing whisking the latter in. Slowly whisk the tempered egg mixture into the pot with the remaining hot mixture until well combined. Place the pot back on the heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and simmer two to three minutes, until the mixture thickens. (Mixture should be quite thick, but still pourable and spreadable.) Remove from the heat, stir in butter and vanilla, and let sit 2 minutes. Pour and spread the filing into the baked pie crust. Cool pie on a baking rack to room temperature. Filling should set once cooled to room temperature; if not, refrigerate the pie to set.

When ready to serve, top and spread entire pie with whipped cream, or garnish individual portions with a dollop or piped spirals of it. Use 1 cup of whipping cream, whipped, for a more modestly topped pie. Go for 1 1/2 to 2 cups, whipped, if you like a more generous amount.

Note: If you use raw rice or dried beans when blind-baking the pie crust, you’ll need about two cups. After using them, cool the rice or beans to room temperature, place them in bag and store them away until you need to blind bake a pie crust again.

Flavouring the basic cream pie:

Chocolate Cream Pie

Make basic filling and remove from the heat. When adding the butter and vanilla, also add 1/2-cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate completely melts. Fill and finish pie as described in the basic recipe. Garnish wedges of the whipped-cream-topped pie with a few chocolate chips, shaved chocolate, or drizzle of chocolate sauce sold at most supermarkets. For a special presentation, garnish each wedge of pie with a few berries and a mint sprig.

Coconut Cream Pie

Make basic filling and remove from heat. When adding the butter and vanilla, also add 1 cup of medium, unsweetened coconut flakes (does not have to be toasted). Fill and finish pie as described in the basic recipe, but garnish the top of the whipped cream with, in this case, toasted coconut. To toast the coconut, spread about 1/2 cup of medium, unsweetened coconut flakes on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake in 350 F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring a few times, or until the coconut lightly, and evenly browns.

Banana Cream Pie

Make basic or chocolate filling and cool until almost at room temperature, but still spreadable. Slice 2 medium bananas into a bowl. Toss in 2 tsp fresh lemon juice. Place banana slices into the bottom of the pie shell. Pour and spread basic or chocolate filling over top. Finish as described in the basic recipe, but garnish the top of the whipped cream with a few slices of banana just before serving.

Butterscotch Cream Pie

Substitute 3/4 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar for the granulated sugar called for in the basic recipe. Also increase the butter to 3 tablespoons. Cook, fill and finish the pie in the same manner as described in the basic recipe. If desired, once topped with whipped cream, drizzle each serving of pie with a little caramel sauce, which is sold at most supermarkets.

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. With a pastry cutter or 2 forks (or with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer), cut the shortening and butter into the flour until well blended. Pour the egg/water mixture into the bowl; gently work it until it forms a loose, moist dough that just holds together. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into a ball. Cut the ball in half. Press each half into a 1/2-inch-thick disk. Wrap and refrigerate each disk for 20 minutes before rolling out. (If making only one single crust pie, freeze the other dough for another time.)

To make a crust, unwrap one of the disks of dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough from the centre out into a round large enough to fit a 10-inch wide pie plate with a 4-cup capacity. Carefully unfold it and gently nestle it into the bottom of the plate. Don’t worry if the crust breaks in places; simple press it back together. Crimp the top edges of the crust to create a finished look and trim off any excess dough from the side of the plate. Refrigerate and firm up the pie crust 20 minutes and it’s ready to blind-bake as described in the recipe above.

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